Jayalalithaa asks PM to skip Commonwealth meet in Sri Lanka

J Jayalalithaa, chief minister of Tamil Nadu, wants a change of venue for the Commonwealth heads meeting scheduled to take place in Colombo

Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa has urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to boycott the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) and the attendant Leaders' Retreat, scheduled to be held in Colombo this November, to demand action on Sri Lanka.

"India should use the opportunity to ask that the venue for CHOGM be shifted to another country. If India takes this diplomatic initiative there is likely to be broad-based support among member countries of the Commonwealth," Jayalalithaa said, maintaining there was still time left to consider an alternative.

High-level engagement from India for the meet, in her view, would not only embolden the Sri Lankan government but also enrage public opinion in Tamil Nadu, which is already on the boil with student protests against Colombo entering the second week.

As a nation aspiring for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council, India has a duty to uphold the values of democracy and human rights, particularly in its immediate neighbourhood, Jayalalithaa said.

"As a leader in South Asia, India is uniquely positioned to exert the maximum influence on the Sri Lankans to accept an independent international mechanism to hold those who committed genocide and war crimes to account," the chief minister observed and said CHOGM provides an opportunity to do the same.